Saturday, December 15, 2012

I don’t do a lot of things in the kitchen purely for
esthetic reasons, but these twice baked potatoes are one of my more beautiful
exceptions to that rule. You can get almost the exact same flavors by just
adding stuff to a regular baked potato, but what you won’t get in that
scenario is the impressive, over-stuffed height, and gorgeous, golden-browned
crust seen here.

Is it worth it? Only you can answer that. For me, once in a
while, for those extra fancy dinners, the answer is a resounding yes. Taste is,
and always will be, the most important aspect of cooking, but when entertaining
guests on special occasions, don’t forget that you’reputting on a
show with the food. And when it comes to starchy side dishes, this is a great
way to express that flair for the dramatic.

Like I said in the video, this is a demonstration of
technique, and not necessarily a recipe I want you to follow verbatim. I will
list what I used below, since I’m required to by food blogger common law, but if there was ever a
recipe that you’d want to experiment with, this is the one.

By the way, since there's a certain amount of prep involved
here, you can make these ahead of time, up to the point of the second baking,
and then just finish when it gets closer to service. I hope you give this show
stopping side dish a try soon. Enjoy!

I made these tonight and as directed used what I had. I dont know if it was the double layer at the bottom or the grease on the pan, but the top was baked and the bottom fried! WOW...epic! I haven't had them like that before. You are like the"I know how how to cook" Chef dude that can cook stuff!

hi chef john,i read in many places that we are supposed to prick the potatoes before we bake them or it will explode. i have never baked potatoes. so i would be thankful if you could clarify this for me

Try brie as an alternative to the cheddar sometime - and sour cream as alternative to the cream/milk. Interesting contrast that's really rich, really creamy and, most people say, delightful. We've been doing them this way for a few times and everyone seems to want a second! Thanks for the technique - will have to try the egg yolk - great tips! Happy holidays!

I love potatoes...cooked in just about any fashion. Twice baked spuds are up towards the top. I used my own filling recipe, but they've crept a little more towards the top with your vid. The egg yolk adds more to the mix than I thought. Drizzling butter on the textured top before the second baking adds that crisp top...and the 1/3 top added to the bottom puffing up the filling gives a really nice presentation. Thanks !

I love baked potatoes with sour cream and chives and was wondering ifI could do that with these or would baking the sour cream mess it up? Oh Hell, maybe I'll just add some bacon bits to go with the cheddar!

I made this tonight as a project with my son, home from college. I needed it to be parve (no milk), so used soy milk and margarine, no sour cream or cheese. We wanted to make the. Really pretty, so filled them 3/4 way then piped the rest on with decorating tip- great fun and delicious

I made these tonight with my son who was home from college. I needed them to be parve (no milk), so made them with soy milk and margarine, and no sour cream or cheese. We also decided to get fancy, so we filled 3/4 and then piped the rest on with a cupcake decorating tip. Was fun and looked (and tasted) wonderful!

i just tried this recipe for christmas dinner and it was awesome! yes a little time consuming but definitely worth it! the egg yolk just gives the extra richness and yellow color to the the mash! added some cream cheese in as well and it was divine! oh, and the crispy bacon!! heavenly!

Happy holidays Chef John. These were awesome. I did goat cheese, parm cheese, colby jack, sour cream and half and half (cuz that's what I had). I put some shallot salt in from penzeys. Yum! I love your YouTube videos, you make me LOL!

So, I'm thinking again about adding crème fraîche instead of the cream, since I would add it to a baked potato anyway. And since it doesn't heat well, at the end, adding a drizzle of black truffle oil for pizazz.

As directed, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I used sour cream instead of milk. I didn't have green onions so I finely diced 1/4 of a large yellow onion. I included several garlic cloves. They came out great!